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Fiat Uno Sales Skid 60 per cent in Feb

NetScribes/Mahesh Shetty

Fiat India's small car, the Uno, is seeing its worst days ever. For February 2001, Fiat has reported an over 60 per cent slide in Uno sales to 465, compared to over 1,220 in the previous corresponding period.

Agreed, there is a slowdown in the auto industry. But even that does not explain the sharp fall in Uno sales. The Hyundai Santro and the Maruti Zen -- both in the same segment as the Uno -- fell by around 20 per cent, while Telco's Indica fell by almost 30 per cent due to the recession. None of them has fared as badly as the Uno, though.

"There is fairly positive perception surrounding the performance of the Uno, especially the diesel variant. That has still not been enough to beat the strong negative perception of its boxy design from the 80's and the quality of service support and overall customer friendliness," said an analyst a leading European investment bank.

Analysts agree that the Uno is not serving any major role except filling in a gap, maintaining a Fiat presence in the small car segment.

They believe the downside of this strategy is the damage done to the goodwill of the brand and its potential impact on any future product, in this case, the Palio. The company is also working on a stripped-down version of the Uno.

"Fiat is coming out with the Palio in another three or four months anyway. I don't know why they would want to continue with the Uno - they're not making money on it anyway," added the analyst.

"They have quite some damage control to do on the Uno. The car's inherent strengths - a strong diesel engine as well as good suspension and calibration set-ups for Indian road and fuel conditions - are buried under poor perception combined with a dated design," said an analyst at a Dutch investment bank in Bombay.

Currently, the Uno, with monthly sales of around 500-600 units, has just a 2 per cent share of its segment while Maruti's Zen and Hyundai's Santro lead the segment with 22-25 per cent of total segment sales.

Its other model, the Siena in the mid-size segment, doesn't have much to cheer about either. Fiat reported February sales of just 136 Sienas, down more than 50 per cent over the 275 cars sold during February last year.

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